Titanium ore worldwide is mainly ilmenite, among which nearly 93.5% is ilmenite and the rest are rutile, anatase, titanium slag, etc. According to the United States Geological Survey, the global titanium ore (mainly ilmenite and rutile) had been up to 930 million tons at the end of 2017, including 870 million tons of ilmenite in Australia, China, India, South Africa, Kenya, Brazil, Madagascar, Norway, Canada, Mozambique, Ukraine, the United States, and Vietnam; and 63 million tons of rutile (anatase included) distributed in Australia, Kenya, South Africa, India, Ukraine, Sierra Leone, Mozambique, etc. In recent years, the production of global titanium ore has leveled off at over 6 million tons, made in Australia, Canada, China, South Africa, and Mozambique. Most of ilmenite have been produced in Australia, China, Canada, Mozambique, Vietnam, Norway, etc., with a total of 5.36 million tons in 2018; Rutile have been made in Australia, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Ukraine, etc., with a total of 750000 tons in 2018. The largest exporters are South Africa, Australia, Canada, Mozambique and India, which supply to the United States, Japan, China and Germany. External dependence refers to the ratio of the net import volume of a product to its total consumption. The external dependence of mineral products can simply indicate how a certain mineral depends on the international market, providing information for governments to formulate policies on developing and utilizing the mineral, which is an important indicator of the resource security.
Cui Rongguo, Wang Lei, Zhu Yuzhu et al. have calculated the external dependence of domestic mineral products. Yao Zhen et al. have analyzed the import and export data of titanium ore from the Nonferrous Metals Industry Association and China Customs. It's believed that China's overall dependence on titanium ore is increasing. After analyzing the import and export of titanium ore and its domestic production, the total consumption consists of the net import and the domestic production. Based on Cui Rongguo's analysis model, we calculated the changes in China's external dependence on titanium ore.
2009 till now has witnessed the growing net import of titanium ore in China. From 2009 to 2012, the import had increased from 1.479 million tons to 2.905 million tons, in a rapid upward trend; After 2012, the net import has declined under the downturn of global mining economy. In 2015, the import decreased to 1.88 million tons, 35.3% less than that of 2012. The external dependence of titanium ore products increased from the lowest 14.8% in 2011 to 84.2% in 2015, nearly increasing 70%. At present, China's external dependence of titanium ore products is 63.8%. based on Cui Rongguo's theory, it is upper intermediate level. The government should take strong measures to formulate policies for developing the mineral, in order to achieve effectiveness as soon as possible.
